Not everyone will have excellent advice, but the more that advice begins to resonate across readers, the more you should pay attention to it and make some corrections. Because if your cover letter bombs on the market, no one will ever get past that to see how awesome your C. You have roughly 30 seconds to sell someone on your entire academic career, so make it count. Expand comments Hide comments. We have retired comments and introduced Letters to the Editor.
Share your thoughts ». About Contact Subscribe. Career Advice. Get a Job! Understanding Cover Letters. Every paragraph has a purpose, writes Cheryl E. By Cheryl E. November 4, Job letters typically follow a five-paragraph format, with the order of paragraphs switched depending upon the focus of the department research or teaching : 1.
Service Paragraph Some folks' strategy here is to list all their service work, to show what a good colleague they can be. Thirty minutes is enough research. If not, use a memo or letter template in your word-processing program. But ask around in your field.
You might could use that extra six lines of space. Single space. Readability is as important as quality. Read more by Cheryl E. Inside Higher Ed Careers Hiring? Post A Job Today! Trending Stories Rutgers Camden professors want to know why dean was fired The growing challenges confronting department chairs opinion Report makes suggestions for simplifying FAFSA verification Brazil cuts federal science spending by 90 percent Ph. Most Shared Stories Ex-dean at Southern California indicted for bribery Inside Higher Ed Suit claims department chair shielded serial sexual predator Satiric look at this year's implicit bias module season opinion Inside Higher Ed Faculty call for reinstatement of acquitted professor Higher education should prepare for five new realities opinion Inside Higher Ed.
You may also be interested in The Language Wars Ensuring equity, justice when teaching quantitative methods opinion How a primarily white institution supports students of color opinion. Opinions on Inside Higher Ed. Veterans Day, November Can These Colleges Be Saved? Tackling Transfer. Higher Ed Gamma. Download the free Acrobat Reader. When you're applying for a faculty position with a college or university, the cover letter is your first chance to make a strong impression as a promising researcher and teacher.
Below you'll find some strategies for presenting your qualifications effectively in an academic context.
A cover letter for an academic job has a function similar to one for a business job, but the content differs significantly in quantity and kind. While the general advice for business cover letters—such as tailoring your letter for the specific job and selling your strengths—still applies, a cover letter for an academic position should be long enough to highlight in some detail your accomplishments during your graduate education in research, teaching, departmental service, and so on.
The typical letter is thus usually one and a half to two pages long, but not more than two—roughly five to eight paragraphs. Another aspect of not assuming knowledge on the part of the reader means that you need to be explicit, stating what you think is obvious -- because what is obvious to you is not always obvious to the reader. For example, although your dissertation may use qualitative methods, you may be able to teach undergraduate statistics. But you decide not to say in your cover letter that you are able to teach that class because you assume that anyone who has a Ph.
However, that assumption would be incorrect, and the search committee will not know that you can, and want, to teach undergrad statistics unless you say that explicitly in your cover letter and teaching statement. Tailor your letter. As others, like Karen Kelsky, have written , do your research on the institution and department behind the ad.
Take care to understand and communicate how you fit with a given department and how you and your work connect to departmental activities and communities across the college or university. That means elaborating on your approach to teaching for a liberal arts college, for example, and demonstrating what your publications and research can specifically bring to a research university.
Tailoring your letter also means tailoring it to the job ad, remembering to be as explicit as you can about how you fit the listed requirements. If the job ad states that the position is for someone who studies religion, for example, say you study religion. Additionally, show how your broader research agenda ties to religion in some way. My department is currently hiring in organizations and institutions, and successful applicants clearly state they are scholars that study these areas.
More important, the most successful applicants demonstrate that they are primarily interested in expanding theoretical knowledge about organizations and institutions more generally, rather than being theoretically interested in a different topic that happens to take place within an organization.
So, for instance, at my institution, an applicant who demonstrates a teaching record related to organizations and institutions is the strongest, while a desire to teach -- with no prior record -- is slightly less ideal but still a potentially strong applicant. Someone who does not explicitly state their experience or their desire to teach in organizations and institutions is not as strong a candidate. The search committee only knows what you write down in your materials, so be sure to mention the obvious!
Write as a potential colleague rather than as a graduate student. When you write about your research, focus on your arguments and contributions rather than simply describing the details of your specific study. Another way to write as a potential colleague, rather than as a graduate student, is to discuss how you see yourself fitting into, and contributing to, the department, college and university.
That means doing your homework and seeing what centers and institutions are on the campus, as well as any workshops, symposia or other events that occur in your department and how you could contribute or add to those ventures. This involves a transition to seeing yourself as someone who is a useful resource that brings something to the academic table. Write fact-based statements that highlight your accomplishments, including publications, awards, fellowships and teaching.
Fact-based statements that highlight your accomplishments show , rather than tell, the reader of your commitment. Of course, you could still say you are passionate about teaching. Just follow it up with a sentence that provides concrete evidence or data that supports your claim -- such as a teaching award.
Be clear and concise. Write short, declarative sentences. Do not write long, complicated sentences, as your point may get lost in the details. Excessive detail.
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